Thursday 29th May - update

Been very quiet on the fishing front over the last few weeks. I have only been out the once. That once was the Gloucester Canal for a practice as the Super League is about to start. I drew peg 63 at Hempstead and did not have a bite all day. Next to me was Sensas Thyers Captain Lance Tucker who did not have a bite either. Team mate Sam had 4oz (small zander) only 3 anglers in the section of 10 caught! Lets hope its better on Sunday. I have also been over to N Ireland to walk up a mountain in memory of my brother and raise money for Marie Curie. Not quite sure how I made it but there was some red meat and guinness consumed in quantity in the evening. The river season will soon be here so looking forward to that.

Sunday 11th May Clevedon blind pairs match Shiplate Farm - West and Hawthorn Pools

Press report as follows (I was rubbish)

Clevedon Freshwater Angling Club had a match with a difference down at Shiplate Farm between Loxton and Weston Super Mare. A pairs completion was held on West and Hawthorn Canal Lakes but anglers did not know who they were paired with until the draw was made. Although there were very strong winds on the day they did not present too much of a problem as the majority of anglers had their backs to it. In form angler Andy Hembrow and Cadbury Anglings James Gunter were the top pair on the day with a combined weight of 113lb 14oz. James came second on West Lake with just over 33lb and Andy won on Hawthorn with 80lb plus of carp caught on pole fished meat. Not far behind was the pairing of another in form angler, Adie Baker who came second on Hawthorn and lee Williams who won on the West Lake with 59lb.

Andy Hembrow

James Gunter

Gloucester Canal this Sunday.

Friday 10th May - Wild Brown Trout on the River Lyd Devon

For my 58th Birthday my wife treated me to some wild brown trout fishing down on the Tamar system and 2 nights in the Arundell Arms Hotel which fully caters for anglers (game fishermen). I have not done this since I was in my early teens and was looking forward to the change. The Arundell Arms controls about 20 miles of river fishing as well as have their own lake. Here is an overview of what water they cover.

Due to the heavy rain the Tamar was very dirty and unfishable but I was allocated Beat 20 on the River Lyd so had about a mile and a bit to myself. When I show one of the coaches my 9; 6'' rod he fell about laughing and loaned me a nice 8' one with a box of trout flies and light leaders. When I did get to the river, about 6 miles away from Lifton I could see why the 9' 6'' rod would be no use.

Here are some pictures of the surroundings, absolutely beautiful.

River is here somewhere



Found it

An open space at last

The River was averaging about 2 foot deep in the pools but a lot of it was less than 6'' deep, very clear so had to stalk the fish as they were easily spooked. I was keeping eye on the fish and creeping around so much I was not looking where I was going and suddenly slide down a bank of wild garlic on my backside and ended up in the river with a wader full of water ''oh dear'' I said, not lol. Not to be put off I emptied the water out and carried on. Finally I got a take, look at this fine specimen.



ok if you are on a diet!

Slightly better fish followed, here are some samples.....

 

After about 5 hours when I went back down the beat to catch up with my wife who sat among the blue bells all day reading a big deer bolted out right in front of me, I nearly filled the other wader but it wasn't with water!!!

All in all a lovely days fishing and a great birthday present.

Sunday 4th May - Clevedon Club Match Avalon Fishery

I have only fished Avalon 3 times in the last 10 years and never done that well. We were on the main Match Lake, Moors which has 48 pegs and approximately 5 acres with an average depth of 6' - 7'. Plenty of room between pegs and central mature islands.

The venue is part owned by Mosella UK Boss Vic Bush who used to be a good angler on the Bristol Avon many years ago and before the Commercial Fishery trend began.

16 booked in today which was very good considering there was a Kev Perry Series Match on at Acorn, included in the 16 was a couple more new members and Darren Vowles, aka 'Nuddy' made his first appearance since the Boxing Day Pairs Match when together we made 3rd place. Darren has been down on the White Acres matches so fully fired up today ready to bag up on carp on the pellet waggler and method feeder. He was also dressed in 'plantation lake' green (gardeners uniform).

Adie read out the rules (as some anglers embarassed us last time) and Vic done the draw, I drew peg 9 with pegs 8 and 10 not put in! All of us were pegged down one side.

Moors peg 9

I started off on the striaght lead and snared 3 carp in the first hour and lost 2 foul hookers casting just shy of the island with 8mm banded pellet. I feed the 14 meter line with pellet via the catapult while waiting for the to go around plus some micro in each margin. Nuddy was off to a flier in the first hour catching on the waggler but not much elase was happening up my end (that I could see). First put in on the 14 meter line with banded 8mm the float sailed away and I took a carp around 4lb, it didn't half go and the elastic was like a washing line going across the lake. I took a few more smaller carp in the next 2 hours before trying the right hand margin with paste. After 10 minutes the float went under and a munter was on, took me for a merry dance under the platform, back out, back in, into the reeds and in an effort to get it out this was the result.

Top 2 now an top 3 and a finger full of carbon splinters!

So that was the end of that. I stuck on the 14 meter line the rest of the match and added the odd fish. my total weight was 35lb odd.

The wind was blowing down the lake for most of the day and the end pegs reaped the benefits.

1st Peg 23 Andy Hembrow 134lb 04ozs

2nd Peg 22 Mike West 102lb

3rd Peg 20 Adie Baker 84lb 13oz

4th Peg 5 John Woolstencroft 65lb 11oz

Silvers Dave Wride Peg 11 19lb 3oz

Weigh sheet.

Need some rest and a quiet place to recover as 'Nuddy' did not shut up all day.

Off to do some river trout fishing in Devon on Friday and then we have the blind pairs match at Shiplate on Sunday.